Harry Styles performs while holding a rainbow flag at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

Harry Styles' Concerts are LGBTQ+ Safe Spaces

By Aamina Khan

October 24, 2017

And he's shouting it from the rooftops!

When Harry Styles debuted his first single as a solo artist, "Sign of the Times," the general public did a double take. "Harry from One Direction is all grown up," they said. "We didn't expect rock ballads, but he wears it well."

It's true: Harry Styles is a rockstar in his own right. His latest album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, he sold out his first tour, and he has the crowds of women to match.

But here's what the general public will miss: When Harry steps on stage for his fans, he's the same kid we've grown up with. He's a little taller, a little more fashionable, and a little more rough around the edges. But even all grown up and dressed in head-to-toe Gucci, he's the same endearing kid with the bad jokes (sorry, H). Instead of sexy, he gives fans silly. And those crowds of women? Instead of bras, they litter the stage with their pride flags.

As the world watched Harry grow up, his fans were growing up as well. We were shedding layers of awkwardness and adolescence and embracing strange truths of our own. Over the course of the last seven years, many of Harry's teenage fans began coming to terms with their sexualities and gender identities, and the anonymity of Tumblr made the fandom the perfect place for it.

"Growing up, especially here, you don't hear a lot about LGBTQ+ stuff," said Fer, a 19-year-old fan from Lima, Peru. "When I came out to myself, it was around the time I discovered Tumblr. I don't think I ever heard the word 'bisexual' or knew [of identities beyond] gay or straight until I went on Tumblr. I think it's like that for a lot of people."

We would come home from work and school and post and tweet about One Direction and also about all of our queer little secrets — our crushes, our families, our fears and anxieties. And, in retrospect, it was a little surreal. In front of tens of thousands of strangers, we shed our closets. For a lot of us, myself included, some of the first people we came out to were friends we made from being Directioners.

In 2014, as the band was heading on to tour its third album, Midnight Memories, a group of fans started a project called Rainbow Direction, a queer visibility project encouraging fans to bring pride flags to shows and, most importantly, to be their authentic selves. There were so many of us. Right in front of our eyes, the One Direction fandom went from being an LGBTQ+ friendly corner of the internet to a massive public space where queer girls and femmes belonged. The rainbows weren't a fringe movement — you couldn't ignore the fans and their flags if you tried.

Harry certainly didn't ignore them. He asked fans to pass up their own flags for him to dance with, play with, and tie around himself on stage. When the band played a show the day that marriage equality was passed in the United States, he said, "This place looks very colorful tonight, and for a lot of you I know why, and it's great." To anyone uncomfortable with the flags, Harry was making it very clear very quickly exactly what his feelings were. In 2017, during his first solo world tour, he's featured pride, trans, and bi flags on stage every night without fail, even in Nashville where the venue confiscated all flags in the audience.

But big deal, right? No one should be celebrated just for supporting equality, and we can’t lavish allies with praise for doing the bare minimum. But with Harry, it's more than that: He's created a safe space for queer girls and femmes, for whom mainstream LGBTQ+ safe spaces typically don't exist. With such small actions, he makes us — many of whom are young, closeted, and/or without access to a community — feel seen, comfortable, and protected.

"When I saw Harry at his concert [encouraging us to be] whoever you wanted for that night and running around with pride flags, I felt like I wasn’t in the closet right in that moment," said Riya*, a 20-year-old bisexual Muslim girl. "I was just being myself, even if just for that night."

In Philadelphia, a group of fans passed out hundreds of mini-rainbow flags before the show and told everyone to bring them out for Harry's final song.

"[My friends and I] thought it was cool that someone would do that because some people might have been closeted and not been able to buy one to bring," said Ashley, a 25-year-old bisexual fan who was at the show in Philly. "[Harry] was so surprised. From the audience, you could see him look to his band and just say, 'Wow.'"

Harry has long been known by his fans for refusing to abide by gender norms. He often wore women's blouses and accessorized with nail polish and nonchalance. He breaks the male "black suit" dress code by sporting vibrant florals and full glitter. The picture on his debut album cover is of himself in a pink bubble bath with flowers. He's being real with everyone about who he is, and he’s having fun while doing it.

"I owe a lot of my courage to [Harry's] unwillingness to apologize for who he is," said Ellis, a nonbinary 26-year-old fan. "I think because of him, I felt more confident presenting how I wanted and not taking what people thought so seriously.

"He's gotten so bold over the years, and sometimes, I also think we've helped him because we made it clear that whether he chooses to paint his nails or wear women's clothes, we're not going anywhere. Whenever the media brings up questions about his female fan base, he's always defensive of them and stands up for them. He calls them smart and strong and talks about them with love, and I think a lot of it has to do with the confidence we've inspired in him."

A lot of Harry's queer fans wonder if he's aware of just what he's done for us. Each night he overlooks a dark, crowded auditorium, illuminated only by the light of iPhones, rainbow flags, and sheer queer pride and joy, and we all collectively hope that our gratitude is obvious.

What happens next? You might miss it if you don't know to look. Thousands of hearts swell at once, as a star and his stans share an unspoken understanding that no number of thank you's can be exchanged for what we've given one another. Coming of age, self-discovery, and celebration. And as a perfect close to the moment and the night, the crowd roars at the opening chords of the last song.

*Name changed for privacy.

Aamina Khan is a writer and visual designer who loves sustainability, fashion, and sending her friends their horoscopes.